Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his education. I will try and remember some of that or, if not, look at the Hansard. It was only a couple of months ago that I visited a high school in my electorate and we were talking about technology. I was explaining to these students, who I think were in year 11, about how we were taught to use slide rules, and that was greeted with mirth and much consternation. I know the member for Banks would know all about this because he and I went to school together from kindergarten. He was probably far better on the slide rule than I was; he went on to become a lawyer so he must have been. It is interesting from the aspect of my generation that we did talk about slide rules and the application of log tables, but that is just when we are talking about maths. There are so many other things in technology which have far outstripped anything that we could have contemplated when we were at school and at the age which is being targeted by this change in the classification structure for video gaming.

I am very fortunate. I have five grandchildren, and one of my grandchildren, 10-year-old Nathaniel, is absolutely very gifted when it comes to gaming. He is very gifted when it comes to maths as well, but when it comes to gaming he excels. One of the things a dutiful grandfather does is take the grandchildren along and try to encourage them to buy books, and nine times out of 10 it is not the books they want it is the game. I have to say that, for the life of me, I cannot make a value judgement on these things. I take what is there and, when it says 15+, I know for a fact that my grandson Nathaniel at age 10 can fly through games like that. I have heard what other members have said in this debate on what is currently available in the 15+ category but, unless I have the ability to go through and look at those things myself, many of these things would effectively go through to the keeper. I will be out there doing my grandfatherly duty and thinking I am doing the right thing for my grandson, only to find out that it might be a game like the honourable member was referring to that he plays at the age of 35 or whatever on his iPhone.

This is very much a tool for parents, or in my case grandparents. It is not out there to debilitate the user market. The member for Moncrieff was saying that the average gamer is aged 35. I know when the member for Banks and I went to school, the only choice you had about games was rugby league in the winter and cricket in the summer.

See this speech in context